This spring, if you’re searching for a sophisticated haircut that highlights your best features and enhances the natural beauty of your gray hair, look to these five chic and elegant short gray hairstyles inspired by celebrities.
Curated by professional stylists, these styles offer solutions to common hair problems like thinning and loss, while also adding volume to fine hair. Choose from a variety of layered cuts and voluminous styles that are perfect for mature women looking to update their look.
Read on for tips, suggestions and insight from Dr. Roshan Vara, hair transplant surgeon and co-founder at The Treatment Rooms and Ghanima Abdullah, hair expert and cosmetologist at The Right Hairstyles.
5 Elegant Gray Haircuts & Styles To Try For Spring 2024
1. Side-Parted, Asymmetrical Pixie
Halle Berry's edgy, side-parted pixie cut is timeless, and shows that you can also add another color to gray for a two-tone look anytime!
This, as Vara points out, is a "great statement hairstyle and always makes gray hair stand out." Abdullah adds that a deep side part like this can "give more volume" to thinner hair than a middle part, and this can also hide any signs of thinning "in the crown area."
2. Gray Wavy Bob With Sideswept Bangs
Glenn Close's gray shoulder-length bob and side bangs pairing is elegant and ageless. "A longer bob is always very flattering," Vara says, and it is a "great way to grow out your gray hair."
Abdullah adds that long, sideswept bangs like these "add length and volume so you don't have to spend hours styling."
3. Ashy, Gray 'Bixie' With Side Bangs
Jane Fonda is a true trendsetter and style icon, so we had to include one of her quintessential modern hairstyles on this list! The actress recently flaunted a flattering ashy, gray bixie (bob meets pixie) with side bangs that highlights her bone structure and best features.
According to Abdullah, adding side bangs to a gray pixie can "really bring on the glamor, especially if you've had recent coloring added." The look, she adds, is "very youthful and fresh."
4. Silver, Side-Parted Pompadour
Pink is known to rock epic short hairstyles, and her silver hair color is truly unforgettable. With this pompadour look, she adds instant volume and a side part for even more pizzazz.
Adding volume to a gray pixie like this, Vara says, can really help "make the color pop." Abdullah agrees, and adds that a deep side part can give more movement to thinning hair than a middle part, and this can also hide any signs of thinning near the crown.
5. Layered And Textured Classic Pixie
Rather than going for a one-length cut that can weigh your locks down, layers can add volume, Abdullah notes. When you head to the salon, Abdullah says to first ask your stylist about "the amount and placement of layers that will help create volume and body in your hair" and that you would like to create more volume with your pixie cut.
"Generally, pixies that add volume are cut very short in the back, a little long around the ears, and long up top,” she notes. "The layers can be cut to swirl around the head to hide thinning in whichever areas [it's] most apparent." Of course, it's also a good idea to "take a few pictures into the salon to see what’s possible (like Jamie Lee Curtis here) and will look best on you."
The Bottom Line
Thankfully, there is an abundance of chic hairstyles that women with natural gray hair can experiment with beyond the five listed here. When you decide to visit the salon this spring for a hair makeover, Abdullah suggests bringing along some pictures of styles that catch your eye to see what works well with your hair and facial features. Educating yourself on various options will help you make a well-informed decision!
